WASHINGTON, March 15 (UPI) — There are complex challenges remaining for Iraq but the country is better off than it was under Saddam Hussein, a U.S. State Department spokeswoman said.
A series of reports critical of U.S. combat operations in Iraq have emerged as the 10th anniversary of the invasion approaches.
State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said the bilateral relationship with Iraq is been challenging but important.
“The challenges are complex,” she said.
U.S. forces in 2003 invaded Iraq on the grounds that Saddam’s weapons program was too great of a threat to ignore. No such weapons were found.
Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction Stuart Bowen issued his final report to Congress last week. It said that Iraqi leaders questioned the net benefits despite a 10-year engagement that cost the United States $60 billion.
British think tank Chatham House added the “Iraq debacle” hurt Washington’s credibility in the region.
Nuland said that bilateral affairs were more secure than during the Saddam era, however.
“Both countries have made enormous sacrifices to get us where we are and to start this new chapter but we’re committed to Iraq for the long term and we’re committed to its prosperity, its unity and integrity, and to its ability to be a strong democracy in the region,” she said.
Copyright 2013 United Press International, Inc. (UPI).
For the money we wasted in Iraq every man woman and child could have had a free $100,000 cash.
What a utter and total waste of money that made military contractors rich.
Let me ask you this brick. Would you rather spend a trillion over there fighting al quada or spend a trillion here on our own soil fighting the same people and losing civillian lives?
Oh ya, more FEAR. Ya, I’m real scared some towel heads are gonna come get me on my own soil. And millions of em too boot. Can it. Can the fear, enough already. I’m not scared.
Next…
You have mixed up fear and reality. I am not trying to scare anybody, just telling you what is reality. Our current administration is all about spreading fear, I am telling you the way it is.
I’M mixing up fear and reality?!
You’re saying it’s an either or in your mind. Either we spend trillions or we spend trillions here? Prove exactly how we’d spend trillions here? Quick, make up some BS. It’s all false speculation on your part and your calling it reality. You’re insane.
By fighting the terrorists there we are keeping them there, if we were not there they would be coming here, unless thats what you want.
Iraq didn’t do 9/11 you moron. Are you retarded?
Hey brickless, al quada did 911 and there was training camps for them in iraq, go ahead brickless and ask me how I know this.
They were in Afghanistan you idiot. For Gods sake…
brickless, I was there in iraq, I saw the training camps, saw the dead bodies, talked to military intelligence who confermed it was al quada. I know all your intelligence comes from the media, guess what, they only tell you what they want you to know.
Shut up you PTS brain washed dipstick. We all know there were no weapons of mass destruction and that it was all a lie. Iraq had nothing to do with 9/11 and all your brain washed lies isn’t going to change that.
Go get on some medication for PTS.
First of all it isn’t PTS, it’s PTSD. Secondly there was WMD’s there, I saw them and took pictures of them but the military intelligence confisgated my camera. Like I said all you know is what the media told you.
Can it goof ball.
apology accepted
That’s nice, now how about making THIS county better off. Was it worth several trillion dollars? Well, was it?
I’ll take a stab at this… No?